Why is 442 a good formation

Starting on the left wing, Ashley Young could cross with either foot, or cut in and score and was given complete freedom to switch wings as he wished -a winger on both sides of the pitch and a third striker at the same time.

Milner was even more flexible, a winger, a third striker and a fine central midfielder as well. Young and Milner's versatility led an overwhelming Villa counter-attack which overrode the possible defensive weaknesses of the formation itself and O'Neill's lack of a really good defensive midfielder or top full-backs - except occasionally such as the loss to Chelsea.

The is very relevant at Villa right now due to Tim Sherwood taking over. Paul Lambert rarely used it, but it became strongly linked with Sherwood during his time at Tottenham when he brought Emmanuel Adebayor back into the team as a target man striker and got him scoring goals via this formation - though he insisted that "I don't know what you are saying about " when it was blamed for an FA Cup loss to Arsenal.

During his time at Villa we've seen this type of open a few times - first in the glorious win over Sunderland which I analysed here if you want to relive it but also in the losses against Swansea and Manchester United analysis here and here for the more morbid. Sherwood has looked to use Benteke and Abgonlahor as a big man-little man pair and the pace of N'Zogbia and Sinclair on the wings, with the full-backs also given freedom to come up the field, especially Bacuna.

Against Sunderland it was hugely successful, their defenders unable to cope with the pace of the attack. However Swansea and Manchester United both used their superior numbers in midfield to dominate the game. We're unlikely to see the flat again until Abgonlahor is fully fit, to reform the crucial striking partnership, but while good strikers and wingers are available, the will always be an option when the side needs goals fast.

The formation explained. The full-back position explained. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Filed under:. Football Tactics basics: The formation explained New, comments.

Very strong defence — due to the Two Banks of Four the is very strong defensively as eight players can be behind the ball at all times. Strong attack — with two dedicated strikers and two wide players, the formation is relatively strong attacking — wise compared to other formations with only one up front. Can launch an attack very fast — because the has two out — and — out strikers, the defence and midfield does not have to wait before starting an attack.

Very solid formation — there are players covering all areas of the pitch and there is a line of midfielders in front of the defence which means that the defence is never left completely exposed. The wide midfielders can also support the defence as well as the attack , which further consolidates the solidity. Weaknesses: Fewer passing options — due to the simplicity of the formation there are fewer passing opportunities for players. Need good central midfielders — in the formation the central midfielders play key roles in the defence , as well as the attack.

They have to be able to distribute the ball to the strikers and wide players , but also be able to provide defensive cover. Weak against formations with three central midfielders — as mentioned before, the becomes very vulnerable against formations with three midfielders.

They have to track back and provide defensive help if it is required. Vulnerabilities between the Two Banks of Four — there is a lot of space in between the midfield and the defence which can be easily exploited by the opposition. Share 0. Tweet 0. Pin it 0. Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Previous Post. Next Post. Related Posts. It creates a…. Read More. What are the football throw-in rules? While the basic understanding of the game is simple, some rules do….

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Perhaps that is not surprising, for it was in Spain that the formation first developed as something distinct from Once sides had started using their playmaker as a second striker — a trend that emerged at the World Cup — the coming of was inevitable.

Initially a holding midfielder would be deployed to pick him up — hence the late-nineties boom in players capable of playing the Makelele role — at which point the deep-lying forward would start drifting wide to find space. If the holding player followed him, that created space in the middle, so an additional player would be dropped deeper as cover, with knock-on effects for the more attacking midfielders. Or the evolution could come from the other direction: a side playing , with the wingers pushed high and one of the centre-forward dropping deep, is effectively playing a Everybody still referred to it as , but it was in effect a The first to deploy the new formation self-consciously, at least according to the Spanish coaching magazine Training Football, was the Real Sociedad coach Juanma Lillo while he was in charge of the Segunda Division side Cultural Leonesa in One of the great advantages is that having the forwards high allows you to play the midfield high and the defence high, so everybody benefits.

But you have to have the right players. They have to be very, very mobile and they have to be able to play when they get the ball. You have to remember that they're pressuring to play, not playing to pressure. Seeing the success of the system Lillo took it to Salamanca. There, according to an editorial in Training Futbol, the players reacted with "faces of incredulity because they thought it was a strange way to play; they responded to the positions they were told to adopt and the distribution of each line of the team with the same sense of strangeness and surprise as someone who had just come face to face with a dinosaur.

The formation rapidly spread. Javier Irureta had been using it with Deportivo la Coruna for a couple of seasons before they won the league title in , and when John Toshack returned to Real Madrid in , he deployed Geremi and Fernando Redondo as his holding midfielders, with Steve McManaman, Raul and Elvir Baljic in front of them and either Anelka or Fernando Morientes as the lone striker.

The great advantage of using the two holders is that it provides a platform on which more creative players can express themselves, effectively allowing dribblers back into the game, but for a purist like Arrigo Sacchi, it is a retrograde step. The individual has trumped the collective. But it's a sign of weakness. It's reactive, not pro-active. Like Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Sacchi was a devotee of universality, believing that if players were capable of operating in multiple positions, they could create an interactive "energy-system" whose effectiveness was greater than the sum of the effectiveness of the individuals within in.

It was during his brief spell as sporting director of Real Madrid in , that Sacchi realised just how far football had drifted from his ideals. But that's reactionary football. It doesn't multiply the players' qualities exponentially.